Treaty is 'still a bad deal'

Dear sir - In June 2008, over 900,000 people in Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty. It saw the highest turnout for a European Referendum in the history of the State. The voice of the people was clear and decisive. Indeed Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore declared that the "Lisbon Treaty is dead", "the result of the referendum must be respected" and "it would be entirely wrong, inappropriate and counter-productive for the EU to proceed on the basis of any settlement that does not respect the voice of the Irish people." The Irish Government received a mandate from the result to go back to the EU and secure a better deal, which was a citizen led, more open and accountable EU. A new deal, which respected the views as articulated by the people in the referendum result. Indeed, the Fianna Fail/Green Government committed to respect the will of the Irish people and to have their concerns addressed. We should have known better. What the Government came back with is an insult to the electorate. The so called "legally binding guarantees" are window dressing covering the reality that the Lisbon Treaty to be put to the people once again in October is the very same Treaty rejected by over 900,000 people just last year. Not one word has changed, not one comma or full stop. The Lisbon Treaty will have the very same implications for Ireland, the wider EU and the Developing World as it did when it was signed. What the Government has secured are a series of Declarations with a commitment to include them in future Treaties. The declarations themselves merely reiterate the position on certain aspects of the Treaty that anyone who read the Treaty could have told you. Declarations are not legally binding in any way whatsoever. The European Court of Justice is the Legal Body that interprets European legislation from the various treaties. It only has jurisdiction over the Treaty texts and attached protocols. If the Irish Government were serious about addressing the concerns of the Irish people, these issues would have been dealt with in the form of Protocols enforceable through the ECJ. Instead, we are expected to rely on the goodwill of political leaders throughout the EU who did everything within their power to take the final decision on Lisbon away from ordinary European citizens by avoiding referenda. They did so following the rejection by the people of Holland and France of the Lisbon Treaty in its former guise as a European Constitution. They did so because they see consultation and engaging constructively with the ordinary people of the EU regarding the future direction of the EU as "cumbersome," and "unwieldy". Yours, Ken Foley, Mornington Heights, Trim.